The Apocalypse
by angel-anne77
Summary: It's the biggest apocalypse they will ever face and there's only one way to stop it, but that way will ruin Buffy's life forever. B/A
1. Default Chapter

            "Welcome to the Doublemeat Palace," Buffy greeted the customer dully.

            She was so tired she didn't even bother to look up at him. It was 11:50 PM and she was waiting for the clock to strike midnight so her shift would be over. She was too tired to think, but she couldn't help wondering about the tingling feeling she had felt all day.

            "Buffy," the man on the other side of the counter replied.

            The whole world stopped. She knew who it was, and she knew that he was the reason for the tingling feeling. She was lost all she could think about was his deep, gentle voice and how much hurt was in it. 

            "Buffy?" he repeated expectantly.

            She snapped back into reality when she heard that familiar loving voice. It was the voice of her one true love. 

            "Angel?" she answered just above a whisper, "wh-what are you doing here?"

            "I need to talk to you," he replied.

            "Here? Now?"

            "Yes, it's important. It's about a demon."

            "A demon?"

            Her mind froze, and she wandered into her imagination. She was scared. It was déjà vu. The same thing happened with Riley. She wanted to ask Angel all these questions. She wanted to ask him if he was going to break her heart like Riley had done. She wanted to know why he was here. She heard his voice again and snapped into full slayer mode.

            "Demon? What kind of demon?" she asked.

            " We can't talk about it here. We have to go somewhere else," he told her.

            "Oh, umm… I need to finish my shift. I'll only be 3 more minutes."

            Angel sat there for three minutes waiting for her shift to be over. He stared at her from one of the dark tables in the corner. He could just smell her perfume and could feel her soft, silky hair running between his fingers. 

            "Angel," Buffy softly called to him, "Angel," she repeated.

            "What?" he said bewildered.

            "Let's go. My shift is over."

            " Oh. Sure. Let's go."

            They walked out into the cool night on the way to her house.

            "So," she said, " Why'd you think of coming to me for help? I mean, don't you have your own Scooby Gang in LA?"

            "Well, I needed to tell you something," he replied solemnly.

            "You aren't by any chance going to tell me that your married are you? Because if you are, let me ask you to tell me now instead of letting me find out later when I'm not expecting it."

            "What? Where'd you get the idea that I was married?" 

            "Well it's just, the last time an ex-boyfriend came to me for help, he was all married and living a happy life, and here's poor little me working at a fast food restaurant and smelling like … like … I don't even know what that is."

            "Actually, that's what I wanted to talk about."

            Buffy's eyes welled with tears, and she tried to hold them back, but she couldn't help but cry.

            "Oh, my God, you are married," she sobbed.

            " No, no I'm not," he reassured her.

            " Then what were you going to tell me?"  She had stopped crying by now.

            Angel hesitated to say what he wanted to say. He knew that if he couldn't convince her that what he was doing was right, then his heart would shatter.

            " There's another apocalypse coming, and there's nothing that can stop it except," he grew silent.

            "Except what?"

            He stayed silent. 

            "Angel, what can stop it? Tell me," she pleaded.

            "My death,"

            "What?" she couldn't stop the tears, "No. What? How is that possible?"

            "Wesley did the research. It's the worst apocalypse. There's only one way to stop it. The book told us that only the death of an ensouled vampire shall stop this apocalypse. 

            " No you can't die. There has to be another way. Some spell, a-a-a a ritual or something. You can't die. You can't leave me."

            "Don't cry." He whispered in her ear while he took her into a tight but gentle hug.

            " When?" she asked barely above a whisper.

            " The day after tomorrow."

            " No, no, NO!" she broke down in tears, " That's too soon. No!" She buried her face in his jacket. 

            He could feel the warm tear seeping through his shirt into his skin. It hurt him so much that he had to tell her this and break her heart.

            " We have to get to the Magic Box and tell Giles. He has to find a way out of this. There has to be away out. You can't die. You won't die."

            "There's no other way. We checked everything in LA."

            " Then we'll check again!"

            " No, Buffy, you can't get stressed over this. We've tried everything."

            " NO! You're not going to die. You are not going to leave me again. I can't live without you, Angel," by now her voice was a whisper, "haven't you figured that out? I can't live without you. If you die, I die too. I can't let you die. It's not going to happen."

            " Okay, but don't get your hopes up. I don't want you counting on something that might not be there. We might not find anything."

            " I know," she whispered.

            They walked hand in hand to the Magic Box with tears streaming down their cheeks. They both sobbed silently.

            When they got to the Magic Box, the whole Scooby gang was there. Willow and Tara were sitting in a corner practicing a levitation spell, Anya was counting the money in the register, Dawn was doing her homework, Giles was arranging the items on the shelves, and Xander was watching Anya and eating a chocolate bar.

            " Everyone, sit down," Buffy said in a blank, monotone voice.

            Angel explained the situation to the whole gang while Buffy sat in silence crying. Angel took Buffy home while the rest of the gang was researching including Dawn.

            When they got to her house, Angel brought her up to her room. He was about to go downstairs and stay on the couch. When Buffy whispered in between sobs.

            " Stay with me."

            " Okay, I'll just be downstairs."

            " No, stay up here."

            " We're not gonna do anything. I just need to know that your still here. Still safe. And still with me."

            " Okay."


	2. what happens next

Disclaimer: I don't own any of them. They belong to Joss Whedon. 

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            Buffy awoke to the shining, bright light of the sun. It took her a few minutes to remember the things that happened the night before. Then realizing the sun was so bright, she panicked thinking that angel had burned up.

" Angel?" she whispered, "Angel?!"

            " It's okay. I'm here." He emerged from the dark corner of her room.

She slowly got up from her bed and walked over to Angel. She pulled him into a tight embrace.

            " Thank God you're still here."

            " I said I'd stay. So I'm here. I'll never leave you."

            " I-I had this dream. That you… you… you  d-died. And I know that's supposed to happen, but… but that just can't happen. I'll die without you. Again." She trailed off tears flowing like a river.

            Angel cut her off with a kiss and told her with a comforting voice.

            " Buffy, I know this is hard to accept, but just try not to think about it. If  we can't find a solution, we'll have to deal. So stop your crying so we can go look for a way out."

            " You're right," she said with a weak smile, " We need to go see what the others found, but it's daylight."

            " I'll go through the sewers."

            " Okay, but I still need to get ready."

            " I'll wait."

            " All right."

            An hour later, Buffy was dressed and ready to go. Angel glanced at her. She was wearing a pink, floral dress that went down to the middle of her knees, and she had matching pink sandals. 

            " Angel? Are you ready?"

            " Yeah, sure, but I need a blanket to get to the sewers."

            Five minutes later, Angel was underground and on his way to the magic shop. Buffy was walking to the Magic shop too.

            Angel arrived around five minutes after Buffy had.

            " What took you so long?" she greeted him with a short kiss.

            " I was held up by a Minscar demon."

            " What? Are you okay?" she asked with great concern in her voice.

            " Yeah. So what have we found?"

            " I don't know yet. We were waiting for you."

            " Well, I'm here."


	3. Chapter 3

" Giles, what do we know?" Buffy asked him still clinging to Angel's arm.

            " I talked to Wesley and apparently he has looked through the most informative books and has found nothing."

            " No, we have to find something."

            " We are not positive that there is a loophole. You do understand that don't you?"

            She replied with a silent nod. She bowed her head to hide the tears in her eyes. 

Angel pulled a seat out for her to sit in and opened a book to research. 

            Buffy sat in silence thinking.  _What am I gonna do? I can't live without him, but if they can't find a way out then… then… _She couldn't even bear to think about it. _She'd_

_just be a girl with no reason to live. She's turn into a slayer. A true slayer. A slayer with one purpose in life. To kill demons. With no one to love her or care for her. Sure there was Willow and Xander and Dawn and Giles, but no one would care for her like Angel would. No one was like her beloved Angel._

            "I'm going on patrol," Buffy told the gang.

            "What?" Giles said startled, "Oh, all right. Perhaps you should."

"Angel? Are you coming?"

" Yeah. Of course."

When Angel and Buffy had left, Anya broke the silence in the Magic Box.

            " Why do we put up with this anyway? I mean we do the boring research all for the good of Buffy, and she's probably just out there with Angel having the time of her life!" Anya said.

" Anya!" they all yelled irritatedly.

"What? I was just saying what was on my mind."

" Anya, honey," Xander told her, " just don't say anything."

"I think Anya was right. I mean she never does any research and she's always out on patrol I mean who knows if she's even trying to kill the bad guys. Maybe she's just out there getting drunk or something," Dawn said.

" Dawn!" Willow scolded, "Don't you get it? She has to go on patrol. She has to keep her mind of off everything that's happening. She has so much pain in her, so much hurt. Angel is her life, and if she loses him, she dies."

Dawn hid her head in her book to hide her embarrassment.


	4. Chapter 4

At the cemetery, Buffy and Angel were walking quietly. Until Angel spoke, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Looks like there's no evil going on tonight huh?"

No answer. She was too devastated to speak. Angel didn't question her when she didn't answer. He knew she didn't want to talk right now. He heard her the whole time. Ever since she left the store, she had been crying. He wished he could do something that would comfort her.

"Buffy, I- I know that"

"Don't, okay. I know what you're gonna say, but you can't say that. You can't do anything about it okay. Nothing you can say is gonna help."

" I know that, but please don't cry. It hurts me so much to see you this way.

" You want me to stop crying? Why is that going to help? Huh? You're still going to go away. You're still gonna leave me," she said with tears streaming down her face.

" Buffy," he said trying to calm her down, "this is the only way for you to live. I die in place of the rest of the world."

" You don't understand.  I'll die without you. I need you, Angel."

" If  I go then you won't die, and you'll still have Willow and Xander and everyone else."

"Don't you get it! You're the only one who has ever let me feel.." she trailed off.

"Feel what."

"You make me feel needed, and I need you. You're the only reason that I'm living. You're my life. My soul."

She fell into Angel's tight hug and cried into his shirt. He felt her pain. It tugged at his soul and his heart shattered. He cried silently letting his tears fall on the top of her golden hair. Those stood there for half an hour then Angel spoke up.

"We should get you home."

"Angel?"

" Yeah?"

" It's tomorrow," hot tears sprung in her eyes again as the realization hit her.

" Yeah, it is," he replied in a solemn voice.

"Is there gonna be a big fight? Are you gonna be in pain?" she asked in a pain-filled voice.

" Uh, there's supposed to be this big battle. At midnight. On the hellmouth. It's supposed to open up, and to stop it I have to do this ritual right before it opens. With me standing right on top of it."

"What?" she asked in shock, "You expect me to watch that?" Her voice broke.

" I'm sorry, but someone has to be there to fight the demons that might come out."

When they reached the Summers' house, no one was home. They sat on the sofa. Neither of them broke the silence. Angel sat slouched on the sofa with Bufy's head resting on his chest. They were both crying clinging to each other as if their life depended on it.

She fell asleep on his shoulder, and Angel carried her up to her room and set her on the bed. He sat in the chair next to her nightstand. He watched her sleep. So peaceful, but in emotional turmoil. She was so beautiful and he was the only one who could make her happy yet all he did was hurt her. Over and over again. He sobbed. He couldn't take it

He couldn't bear to break her heart again.

            He locked up the house and went to the magic shop. He was going to find another way even if he had to kill everyone else to do it. Besides the Scooby gang.


End file.
